Speed-controlling mechanism for rolling-mills and the like.



W. R. CLARK.

SPEED CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR ROLLLNG MILLS AND THE LIKE.

APPLLQATION FILED IARJI, 1913- 1,1 08,971 Patented Sept. 1,1914.

4 SHEETSSHEBT 1.

ATTORNEY.

W. R. CLARK. SPEED CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR ROLLING MILLS AND THE LIKE.

I APPLICATION IILEI) MAR. 11, 1913.

1,108,971,. V Patented Sept. 1, 1914,

4 SHEETSSHEET 2. v

W/ T/YESSES; I //YVENTOR-' Y W BY 7 CD041;

W. R. CLARK. SPEED CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR ROLLING MILLS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION nun-nu. 11, 1913.

1,108,971. Patented Sept 1, 1914,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

7. 2%m. IL

W.,R. CLARK. v SPEED CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR EOLLING MILLS AND THE LIKE.

' APPLICATION FILED 11,11, 191a. v 1,108,971 Patented Sept. 1,1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

2M. Made-Q ATTORNEY,

UNITED snares PATENT orinon.

'WAL'IER n. cLAnk, or iamenro'n r, coiv'nnerrcu'r; Ais'sreuon TO smnenronr muss COMPANY, or nnanenrom; connnc'rxcu'r, A conronnrron or CONNECTICUT.

srnnn-conrnonnmo uncnnivlsn rota ROLLINGHMILLS AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed March 11, 19 13. Serial No. 753,629. j

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER R. CnAnK, a citizen of the United States, residing in Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, have invented certaln new and useful Improvements in Speed-Controlling Mechanism for Rolling-Mills and, the like, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to mechanism primarily intended to control the relative speeds of rolling mills, wire drawing blocks, or other metal working devices arranged in tandem for simultaneously operating upon successive portions of an advancingbar, strip, sheet or wire fed from one of. such devices to another of the same.

The improvements are especially applicable to tandem rolling mills for rolling material of comparatively thin gage, an to wire drawing blocks or other devices arranged in tandem.

Certain features of the invention, however, may be used to advantage in many other connections.

The rolling of strip metal in thin gages has heretofore generally been confined. to the use of one rolling mill through which the strip is passed to reduce its thickness and from which the strip passes directly to the winding drum. There have recently been some attempts to roll these strips by passing them through two or more sets of rolls placed in tandem with each other, but this tandem rolling has been unsatisfactory owing to the impossibility ofproperlycontrolling the-speeds of the respective mills. In this method of rolling it is necessary, in order to obtain satisfactory results, to have a certain definite slackness of metal between each pair of rolls. Ifthis slackness is not present the tension on the-'metal between the different sets of rolls will generally be sufiicient to stretch the metal beyond its elastic limit, and cause unevenness in gage and inferior/surfaces. In some cases the tension may be suflicient to rup ture the strip. On the other hand, if the slackness is too great-g. the metalwillloop, up between the difierent sets of rolls with almost equally undesirable. results. 1 Of course, manual speed. adJuSt'mentof the respective individual sets of rolls: has been attempted, in order tokavoid these drawbacks, but it has been "found impossible for Patented-Sept. 1, 1914.

the operator to so control the relative speeds I of the rolls in this manner as to maintain a uniform slackness the stri between the different sets of rolls. Draw acks very s milar to those-just mentioned are also incldent to the drawingof Wire by means of blocks arranged in tandem and in other con nections where the-tandem arrangement of metal working machines or devices is adopted.

The primarypbject of the present invention 1s to prov1de means controlled by the amount of slackness in the. stock passing between two metal working devices, to regulate automatically the relative speeds of said devices. More particularly I propose to employ an automatic speed adjusting device actuated by variations in the slackness of the stock passing between the mills or other metal Working devices, to control the speed of'a prime mover which drives one of said metal working devices independently. It

is also proposed to provide a speed adjusting device which includes means for subjecting the stock to a definite tension at a point between the metal working devices so that the stock enters what maybe termed the second device, at a tension best suited working device at a speed in consonance withthe feed of the stock to said device.

To these and other ends, the invention conslsts. 1n the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described' and claimed.-

Inthe accompanyi'ngdrawings, Figure 1 is aqdiagrammatic plan view of a rolling mill installation embodying my invention,

{wherein the individual 'mills are driven by electric motors, Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation of certam parts shown in Fig.

11;, Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view ofa {rollingmill installation in which the re- 'spective mills are driven by steam engines,

,4- is asideelevation of Fig. 3, Fig. 5

F1 .is an enlarged detail portion of Fig. 4, .Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view of wire drawing apparatus embodying m invention, Fig. 7 is a diagrammatlc si e elevation of certain parts shown'in Fig. 6, Fig. .8 is a diagrammatic plan view of a modified arrangement of wire drawing apparatus, and Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic side elevation of certain parts shown in Fig. 8.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2,10 and 11 are separate sets or pairs of rolls arranged in tandem. The rolls 10 are driven by means of an electric motor 12 geared to said rolls in the usual manner, and the rolls 11 are driven in a similar manner by means of an electric motor 13. In front of the rolls '10 is a holder 1 1 on which is coiled the strip 15 which is to be reduced by the rolls l0, l1, and behind the second rolls 11 is a winder 16 on which the reduced strip is'wound as it emerges from said second rolls. Suitable guides or tables 17 18 are preferably associated with the respective pairs of rolls as usual.

In the embodiment now under consideration, the speed of one set of rolls is, controlled .by hand, and the speed of the other set is controlled automatically.

' For-convenience, I have shown both sets driven by separate electric motors, but what I desire to bring but particularly, is the means adopted for controlling the speed of one set of rolls automatically when said rolls are driven by an electric motor. In the example shown, the autoinatic control isapplied to the electric motor 12 for the first rolls 10, and the speed of the second rolls 11 may be controlled manually by means of a rheostat 19 associated with the motor 13, but for all practical purposes the motor 13 and the rheostat 19- may be replaced by equivalent mechanism of another type.

"At points between the rolls 10, ll, guide rolls 20, 21 are placed in association with the tables of guides 17 .and 18 respectively. The strip 15 is continued through the rolls 10 over the guide rolls 20 and 21 and through the rolls 11. The slackness of that portion of the strip which lies intermediate the two sets of rolls controls automatically the speed of the motor 12 of the rolls 10, and to this end' said motor 12 has associated therewith a rheostat 22 actuated automatically by a device which changes its own position and the position of the rheostat in correspondence with the deviation of the intermediate portion of the strip from a definite path which the strip takes in passing from the rolls 10 to the rolls 11. This rheostat actuating device preferably comprises an idle roll 23 freely rotatable in arms 24 fixed to a crossshaft 25.- The idle roll 23 is adapted to rest on the upper surface of the strip at a point between the respectivesets of rolls, and as said idle roll is raised and lowered by differences in the slackness of the strip, the arms 24 in rocking the shaft 25, cause an oscillating movement of an arm 26 fixed to the shaft 25. This arm 26 is the controller arm of the rheostat 22, the angular movement of which arm with respect to the shaft 25 will change the speed of the motor 12 in a well known manner. Hence as the slackness of the strip varies and causes the idle roll 23 to assume different positions, the different angular positions of the arms 24 will correspond to different positions of the rheostat and to different speeds of the motor 12. In

order to arrest the movement of the arms 24 fixed to the shaft 25 so that the strip may be easily passed beneath said idle roll. On release of the treadle, the idle roll will fall onto the top surface of the strip and will assume a position determined by the slack ness of the strip in the space between the two sets of rolls.

- In some cases, I prefer to have the motor 12 of the compound type, as shown in Fig. 2. In this View, 30 indicates a comparatively large shunt field winding and 31 indicates .a comparatively small series field Winding. The series field winding is used to increase the torque and decrease the speed of the motor as the load upon the rolls 10 increases. However, the particular type of electric motor employed in this connection is not a material feature of the present invention.

The operation of the aptparatus above described is substantially as tive speeds of the motors 12 and 13 are so chosen, or are so adjusted, as to be in substantial accordance with the proposed reduction which is to be effected in the thickness of the strip. The strip is fedthrough the apparatus in the manner previously described. The weight of the idle roll 23 is so chosen that said roll will tension the intermediate portion of the strip to a degree appropriate to the most effective operation of the second set of rolls 11. The arrangement of the different parts is suchv that when the motors 12 and 13 .have been started and that portion of the strip between the two sets of rolls passes from one to the other with the proper amount of slackness, this slackness will be automatically maintained. If for any reason the slackness in the strip commences to increase, the element 23 floating on th'e. strip willbe allowed to drop downward, thereby causing'the controller arm 26 to move in a direction-to slow up the motor 12' and the rolls l0. Of course, this slowingup of the rolls 10'will immediately eliminate the excessive slackness. If the ollows: The rela- 1 any inconvenience looping up of the strip be- I tween the sets of rolls is likewise ren ered impossible.

loop between the different sets of rolls has become excessive,-the stop 27 will arrest one ,opposite direction so that the speed of the motor 12 will be increased to the properpoint, wherebythe rolls 10 are speeded upi to just that degree which will eliminate the excess of tension in the strip. It will there- 5 fore be seen that by having the controlling element floating on the strip, as described,

the speed of the rolls 10 will be automat ically controlled in such a manner that a' practically constant slackness of the strip will be maintained. Hence speed variations of the rolls 10 and 11 will be automaticallycompensated for, and voltage fluctuations, hard spots in the metal, expansion of the rolls, variation in the adjustment of the rolls, and other factors of the rolling operatron, will be inelfective-to vary in any appreciable degree the tension in the strip as it passes fromone set of rolls to the other. When the apparatus has once been adjusted,

it will be impossible for the .tension in the; strip to increase to such a degree as to strain or rupture the strip, and on the other hand,

The apparatus shown in Figs. 3 to 5 is ciples to that just described. In this form of I the invention, the rolling mills and 36 are connected in a well known manner with the throttle valve 40. This throttle valve 40 is not only controlled by the governor but by an'element floating on the strip. between the two sets of rolls, as in the form previously described. In the present instance, a roll 41 floating on the strip is journaled between pivoted arms 42 on a cross-shaft 42*.

may be shifted by meansof a treadle 45. An arm 42 on the shaft 42 is connected with a rod 46 pivoted at 47 to the elbow lever The angular movement of one ofthese arms 42 is. limited by-"stop's 43 and 44, and the roll 41- tion as applied to wire drawing blocks arranged in tandem. In these views, 50 is the first block, 51 the second block and 52 the winding block; The blocks 50, 51 and 52 are driven by electric motors 53, 54 and 55 respectively- The speed of the block 50 is controlled automatically but the speed of the blocks 51 and 52 may be controlled by means of rheostats 56 and 57 respectively associated with the motors 54 and 55. Dies 58 and 59 of the usual type are associated with the blocks 50 "and 51 and av guide roll or pulley 60 is placed in front of the die 59. An'idle roll or pulley 61 journaled in arms 62 floats on the wire between the blocks 50, 51. The arms 62 are fixed to a cross-shaft 63 carrying a controller arm 64 of a rheostat 65 connected with the motor 53. In this form themotor 53 is of the ordinary shunt type having a shunt field winding 66, as shown in Fig. 7. The operation of this apparatus is analogous to that of the rolling mill installations hereinbefore described.

The apparatus shown in Figs. 8 and 9 is similar to that shown in Figs. 6 and 7 except that in this last case, the wire blocks rotate in a horizontal plane instead of in a vertical plane. Under these conditions, the roll co-acting with the slack portion of the strip between the drawing blocks 'will not, obviously, tension the wire by gravity, and hence I employ a spring (or equivalentdevice) for tensioning the strip to the re-' quired degree. The drawing blocks 67 and 68 are dIlVBIl' by'electric motors 69 and 70 and the winding block 71 is driven by a motor 72. The usual gear reductions between the motors and the blocks areem- 'ployed in all of the cases illustrated. "An

, idle roll 73 journaled in arms 74 is held substantially similar in its general prin-i by a spring 75-against that portion of the wire extending between the blocks 67 and 68, and ashaft 76 to which the arms 74 are fixed carries an arm 77 controlling the rheostat 78 of the motor 69, as in the installations previously described. The action of the spring 75 on the roll 73 will be well understood, and otherwise the operation is substantially identical with that of. the vgire drawing apparatus shown in-Figs. 6- an 7.

Of course, I do not wish to limit myself 1 in every aspect of the invention to an automatic control of what I have termed the particular form of the prime movers and' of the speed controlling means therefor is immaterial in the broader aspects of the invention. Furthermore, in the broad aspects of the invention, the character of the length of stock acted on by the metal working devices is immaterial. Modifications in the above and other respects may obviously be adopted within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is: u

1. The combination with metal working devices arranged in tandem for simultaneous operation on a length of stock, of a prime mover for one of said devices automatically controlled by variations in the slackness of the stock between said devices; substantially as described.

2. The combination with metal working devices arranged for simultaneous operation on successive portions of a length of stock, and separate prime movers for driving said devices, of a speed adjusting device for one ofsaid prime movers actuated by variations in the slackness of the stock; substantially as described. I,

3. The combination with metal working devices arranged in tandem for simultaneous action on successive portions of an advancing length of stock fed by one ofsaid devices to the other, and separate means for driving said devices, of a controlling device for one of said means actuated automaticallyby variations in the slackness of the stock between said metal working devices; substantially as described.

4. The combination with metal working devices arranged for simultaneous operation on a length of stock fed from one of said devices to the other, of motors for driving said devices separately, and a speed adjusting device for one of said motors actuated automatically by variations in the slackness of the stock betweensaid metal working devices; substantially as described.

5. The combination with separate metal working devices arranged in tandem for opdevices, and means actuated automatically by variations of tension in the stock between said devices to control the relative speeds of 6 working devices arranged in tandem for siscribed.

multaneous reduction of a length of stock fed from one of said devices to the other, of means for operating one of said devices, and a prime mover for operating the other device, automatically controlled by variations in the slackness of the stock between said devices; substantially as described.

8. The combination with metal working devices arranged for simultaneous operation on a length of stock, of a prime mover for driving one of said devices, a prime mover for driving the other device, a speed controlling device for one of said prime movers, and means for actuating said speed controlling device, including. a member resting loosely on the stock at a point between said metal working devices; substantially as described.

9. The combination with a rotary device for'reducin'g and feeding a length of stock, and a prime mover for operating said device, of means for controlling the speed of said prime mover, actuated automatically by variations in the slackness of the stock acted on by said device; substantially as de- 10. The combination with a rotary metal working device for operating on and advancing a length of stock, and a prime mover for driving said device, of means for supporting the stock issuing from said device, and speed controlling means for said prime mover actuated by variations in the slackness of the stock issuing from said metal working device; substantially as described.

11. The combination with a rolling mill, and means for driving the same, of means for carrying along the forward end of the length of stock emerging from said mill, and speed controlling means for said driving meansactuated automatically by-variations in the slackness of the stock emerging from said mill; substantially as described.

' 12. The combination with a rotary metal reduction device, and means for operating, the same, of. means for coiling the stock issuing from said device, and controlling means for said operating means operated by variations of tension in the stock issuing from said device; substantially as described.

13. The combination with a metal workeratively connected with said ivoted element; substantially as described.

means, op-

15. The combination with a metal working device, and means for driving the same, of means for carrying along the stock issuing from said device, a speed controlling device for said driving means, a pivoted element supported against the stock issuing from said metal working device, and a member connecting said element with said'speed controlling device; substantially as described.

16. The combination with a metal working device, and means for driving the same, of means for advancing the stock to said device, and means for driving said advancing means, automatically controlled in speed by the slackness of the stock between said advancing means and said metal Working device; substantially as described.

17 The combination with a rolling mill, and-means for driving the same, of means for advancing the stock to said mill, means for driving said stock advancing means, and speed adjusting means for said stock advancing means, automatically controlled by variation of the tension in the stock between said advancing means and said mill; substantially as described.

'18. The combination with rotary means for advancing a length of stock, and means for driving said advancing means, of an other rotary means to advance the stock to said first means, means for driving said last named advancing means, and means for controlling the speed of said last named driving means, actuated automatically by variations in the slackness in the stock between said two advancing means; substantially as described.

19. The combination with a metal working device which operates on. and advances a length of stock, of a second metal working device which receives the stock from the first, separate means to drive said devices, and means for controlling the speed of said first device, actuated automatically by variations in the slackness of the stock between said devices; substantially as described.

20. The combination of a metal working device, means for driving the same, another metal working device which advances a length of stock to said first device,an electric motor for driving said last named de-.

vice, a rheostat for controlling the speed of said motor, and an actuating device for said rheostat floating on the stock at a point between said metal working devices; substantially as described.

2l."The combination with a metal working device to operate on and advance a l ingth of stock, of a prime mover for operating said device, a speed adjusting device for said prime mover, an element floating on the strip emerging from said metal working device, means of connection between said element and said speed adjusting device, and means to limit the movement of said floating element; substantially as described.

22. The combination with a metal working device to operate on and advance a length of stock, of a prime mover for operating said device, a speed adjusting device for said prime mover, an element floating on the strip emerging from said metal working device, means of connection between said element and said speed adjusting device, and stops for limiting the movement of said floating element in both directions; substantially asdescribed.

23. The combination with a metal working device adapted to operate on and advance a length of stock, of means to feed a length of stock to said device, means to drive said stock feeding means, and means for controlling the speed of said stock feeding means, controlled automatically by variations in the slackness of the stock passing into said metal working device; substantially as described.

24s. The combination with a rotary metal reduction device adapted to advance the metal acted on thereby, of a rotary device arranged tandem fashion relatively to said reduction device, and adapted to advance the length of stock acted on by the latter,

and means controlled directly by that portion of the stock in the interval between said devices to regulate the speed of one of said devices in consonance with variations of the slackness of the stock; substantially as described.

25. The combination with a rotary metal. reduction device, and means to drive the same, of a rotary device for advancing the length of stock acted on by said reduction device, means to drive said second device, means to regulate the speed of one of said driving means, and means for controlling said regulating means, including an element adapted to float on the length of stock be tween said devices; substantially as described.

26. The combination with a rotary metal reduction device, of a device to advance the length of stock acted on by said first device, an element adapted for support by that portion of the stock in the interval between said devices, and driving means for one of said devices, having governing means controlled by the position of said element; substantially as described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand on the 4th day of March, 1913.

WALTER R. CLARK.

Witnesses L. M. ALLEN, N. C. REED. 

